just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst having
a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant coming from
around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am assuming that is
where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it is very difficult to
see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's leaking. my first jobs where
going to change all the oils etc so can this problem be left for a couple of
weeks? looking at prices for water pumps i might just replace the whole
lot, if i do are there any problems i might come across that are not
mentioned in the haynes manual.

Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car its
a little daunting.

PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the sump
plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.

I had a similar leak from mine, took ages to trace, but was found to be
coming from the housing around the impeller shaft to pulley. There is a
small hole underneath this shaft and it was trickling from this. Can only be
seen from under the engine or I may have used a mirror, cannot remember now.
Very simple to fix, I paid someone to change the pump!

Martin

"Paul" <paul.olivier@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:3ji6ftFpqc8lU1@individual.net...
> just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst
having
> a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant coming
from
> around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am assuming that is
> where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it is very difficult
to
> see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's leaking. my first jobs
where
> going to change all the oils etc so can this problem be left for a couple
of
> weeks? looking at prices for water pumps i might just replace the whole
> lot, if i do are there any problems i might come across that are not
> mentioned in the haynes manual.
>
> Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car
its
> a little daunting.
>
> PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the
sump
> plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.
>
> Paul.
>
>

If you are not sure when your car has had its cambelt changed you might want
to do that just to be sure, and do the waterpump at the same time. Both
require the same bits to come off.

Pieter

"Paul" <paul.olivier@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:3ji6ftFpqc8lU1@individual.net...
> just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst
> having a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant
> coming from around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am
> assuming that is where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it is
> very difficult to see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's leaking.
> my first jobs where going to change all the oils etc so can this problem
> be left for a couple of weeks? looking at prices for water pumps i might
> just replace the whole lot, if i do are there any problems i might come
> across that are not mentioned in the haynes manual.
>
> Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car
> its a little daunting.
>
> PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the
> sump plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.
>
> Paul.
>

I would look very seriously at changing this asap. Cooling problems are the
leading cause of expensive tdi blowups. I saw a similar leak to what you
described the other day, and it turned out to be the welch plug behind the
water pump.

regards
Stephen

"Pieter Vroom" <p@vroom.f9.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3jil9aFpuh78U1@individual.net...
> If you are not sure when your car has had its cambelt changed you might
> want to do that just to be sure, and do the waterpump at the same time.
> Both require the same bits to come off.
>
> Pieter
>
> "Paul" <paul.olivier@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
> news:3ji6ftFpqc8lU1@individual.net...
>> just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst
>> having a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant
>> coming from around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am
>> assuming that is where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it
>> is very difficult to see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's
>> leaking. my first jobs where going to change all the oils etc so can this
>> problem be left for a couple of weeks? looking at prices for water pumps
>> i might just replace the whole lot, if i do are there any problems i
>> might come across that are not mentioned in the haynes manual.
>>
>> Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car
>> its a little daunting.
>>
>> PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the
>> sump plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.
>>
>> Paul.
>>
>
>

In message <3ji6ftFpqc8lU1@individual.net>, Paul
<paul.olivier@ntlworld.com> writes
>just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst having
>a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant coming from
>around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am assuming that is
>where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it is very difficult to
>see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's leaking. my first jobs where
>going to change all the oils etc so can this problem be left for a couple of
>weeks? looking at prices for water pumps i might just replace the whole
>lot, if i do are there any problems i might come across that are not
>mentioned in the haynes manual.
>
>Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car its
>a little daunting.
>
>PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the sump
>plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.
>
>Paul.
>
>

Most likely to be the "hockey stick" gasket. Very common to fail and as
others have said can cause rather dramatic engine failure if left
unchecked.

Replacement is very easy and should be done using a modified gasket,
metal rather than paper.

On or around Fri, 15 Jul 2005 09:23:48 +0100, Marc Draper
<marc@mdeng.demon.co.uk> enlightened us thusly:
>In message <3ji6ftFpqc8lU1@individual.net>, Paul
><paul.olivier@ntlworld.com> writes
>>just got a 1995 disco tdi, very pleased with it but last night whilst having
>>a good look underneath the engine i noticed a trickle of coolant coming from
>>around the front top right hand side of the engine. i am assuming that is
>>where the water pump is? the leak is very small and it is very difficult to
>>see if its the pump itself or the gasket that's leaking. my first jobs where
>>going to change all the oils etc so can this problem be left for a couple of
>>weeks? looking at prices for water pumps i might just replace the whole
>>lot, if i do are there any problems i might come across that are not
>>mentioned in the haynes manual.
>>
>>Must admit looking at the size of the engine compared with a normal car its
>>a little daunting.
>>
>>PS steve g if you read this i will try and get around to measuring the sump
>>plug soon and be in touch about the difflock plug.
>>
>>Paul.
>>
>>
>
>
>Most likely to be the "hockey stick" gasket. Very common to fail and as
>others have said can cause rather dramatic engine failure if left
>unchecked.
>
>Replacement is very easy and should be done using a modified gasket,
>metal rather than paper.

apart, that is, from having to get the f**@!$$! PAS pump pulley off in order
to get access to a bolt which won't quite come out past said pulley, by a
stupid and irritatingly small amount.

Hmmm. Must track down the rest of the leaks on our TDi. Done the P gasket,
but there are still leaks somewhere. Thermostat housing-to-head is the next
favourite, I'll look at it one day - pressure test showed a small leakage
there, once I got tuits to actually do such a thing.

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